


there's no you and me (there's no good times)

by AncientGlory



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bonding, Publicity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 06:31:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16424207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AncientGlory/pseuds/AncientGlory
Summary: Tony only has one good memory of his father- and even that doesn't feel real.





	there's no you and me (there's no good times)

Brought to the lab by his father, he has his hands held in his father’s bigger, calloused hands that allow him to be puppeteered in the action of building his first ever circuit board. His young eager mind was gurgling in something that he’d like to call delight, because _Dad’s being really nice to me, the guy with a black box thing is a lil’ weird, but that’s okay, because I’m weird, and now I get to do stuff that Dad does!_

Dad chuckles, a sound that Anthony savours with every vibration of the broad chest that he sits in front of, since he is currently sitting in his father’s lap, feeling warm and protected. The lab around them is quiet, apparently emptied and left just for them. Save for the other guy, of course, but Dad tells him not to mind him. He nods because Dad’s happy for once, and when he’s around him too.

Anthony likes this; today, he feels special. He points at a funny looking penny-like thing that was just placed onto the green board. Hands still being held, he asks innocently, “What’s that?”

Dad stiffens, but when he looks up to look at his father’s face, it is still frozen in a copy of a warm smile. “Don’t ask questions, Anthony.”

Anthony listens. Dad is smiling- he must keep that smile on his face. “Okay,” he chirps, and he hears the shuffling of the black box guy in front of him. There’s a click and a whirring sound, and then there’s a silent nod that his father gives to the man. Anthony feels a flash of panic. Whenever his father nods like that, he tells his mom to take him away to another room or take him to his own room where his room is painted a light pastel blue and has his favourite Captain America memorabilia.

He doesn’t really mind when it happens because Dad is a “busy man with a busy schedule”, but he really likes spending time with Dad, and wants to keep spending time. Anthony waits for Dad to call out, “Maria!” and take him away, but the call never comes. The stranger stands up, gives Dad a little salute, and walks out the door.

“Now you can ask questions.”

Anthony looks up to see his father _really_ smiling, looking sorta tired from having to deal with posing around and stuff. “What’s that?”

“The battery.”

“What does it do?”

“Well…”

Anthony and Dad continue like this for a while, Anthony having his hands led by his father while he chats up a storm, asking what each part was. For once, Dad seems to have the time to pay attention to him and have _fun_ with him. Anthony stores this in a nook in his mind for future reference. This memory is going to be important.

“Who was that man outside,” Anthony says with his head tucked under Dad’s chin and hands in his own lap, “and what was that black computer in his hand?”

Dad laughs again, and Anthony treasures it just as much as his chuckles. “Edward? Oh, he’s just a cameraman.”

“What is he going to do with the camera computer?”

“It’s just a camera, not a computer. It has different… settings. It takes our picture; tomorrow, our picture’s going to be in the paper, Tony.”

Anthony frowns slightly at the nickname, but he doesn’t say anything because Dad just said that they were going to be in the paper. “People are going to see my face now?”

“Yes, Anthony,” Dad says patiently. “You’re going to be the future face of Stark Industries.”

“Does that mean I’ll have to do adult stuff, like you do?”

“Maybe. What if I say yes?”

“Well, then I don’t wanna have a face of Stark Industries.”

Dad reaches up and pinches Anthony’s chubby cheeks. “I’ll try my best to shove off some of the adult stuff, don’t worry.” Anthony giggles and tries to swat away the hands that hold his cheeks captive. “Listen, Anthony…”

Anthony looks up, hands clutching the fingers on his face.

“I just wanted to tell you that you- no matter… no matter what I say to you when I have too much brown in me or whenever I get stressed out too much- I will always think of you as-”

* * *

Tony wakes up in his bed, startled. There is no empty lab, there is no warmth where he sits, there is no Howard Stark about to tell him how much he cared, how much he loved him. He wasn’t even sure if it was a dream or not.

He looks at a framed newspaper article on the wall, mint condition.

_“The Faces of the Stark Industry- Geniuses of the Millenium!”_

The photo is the best memory that he has of his father- the worst part was that it was just in paper, and not in body.

**Author's Note:**

> I do hope you enjoyed this! ::AG::


End file.
